Macedonian Police Arrest Nine After Clashes in Parliament

Police in Macedonia have arrested at least nine people in connection with Tuesday's clashes in parliament between supporters of two ethnic Albanian political parties.

Authorities say the clashes followed disagreements over election reforms between lawmakers of the opposition Democratic Union for Integration and the Party for Democratic Prosperity, a member of the ruling coalition.

Democratic Union for Integration supporters later attempted to block streets outside the parliament building in Skopje, leading to the arrests. Some of those held face charges of assaulting police officers or illegal possession of weapons.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski Wednesday met with leaders of all parliamentary parties and stressed that such incidents should never happen again.

In Brussels, a European Union spokeswoman, Krisztina Nagy, condemned the violence, saying it undermines Macedonia's progress in building EU ties.